He took an amazing 47 minutes off his previous best time when he also won the West Highland Way Race last year.

Paul, 36, from Paisley, said: “I still can’t believe it. It hasn’t really sunk in yet. But I am really pleased with the result.”

The annual ultra-distance race kicked off in darkness at 1am on Sunday.

Almost 200 runners, aged from 23 to 65, lined up at the official start of the West Highland Way at Milngavie, in Dunbartonshire.

They faced the immense challenge of non-stop walking and running through night and day to reach the distant Highland town of Fort William.

Every runner requires amazing endurance to keep going hour after hour and incredible resilience to cope with a demanding course and changeable weather.

The race includes a total climb of almost 15,000ft – that’s more than three times the height of the UK’s tallest mountain, Ben Nevis.

At the 18-mile mark, runners face a 1000ft ascent and descent on the steep paths of Conic Hill, near Balmaha, Stirlingshire.

Next up is an extremely tough section of rocks, steps and tree roots along the east side of Loch Lomond.

Running is near impossible in places and some people resort to crawling over large boulders.

Past Bridge of Orchy, with 60 miles run, the participants have to deal with the exposure and wild terrain of Rannoch Moor.

Another climb that forces most racers to walk, not run, heads up to 1000ft again and over the notorious Devil’s Staircase in mighty Glencoe.

Robbie Britton, second-placed male and Fionna Ross, the female winner

After a long downhill into Kinlochleven, the route heads up again as the total distance approaches 90 miles.

Three false horizons and the further torture of a rollercoaster terrain sees the runners finally approaching the finish line on exhausted legs.

The distance and scale of the challenge explains why most people allow around at least seven days to walk the whole trail.

They hike an average of 13 miles each day and sleep for hours every night. Yet Paul’s record-breaking race was achieved in one day and at an average pace of just over nine minutes per mile.

John Kynaston, a WHW Race organiser, said: “Running an ordinary 10km – that’s 6.25miles – event at a pace of nine-minute miles would see you finishing in around 56 minutes.

“For many people, that would be a very good time. So it’s incredible to think that Paul ran the entire 95 miles at this speed.

“And he ran this distance on a very tough and challenging off-road route. It is unimaginable for many people.”

A day after his remarkable achievement, Paul described his legs as “tired but not exhausted”. He added: “I am used to running a lot. I get up at 4.20am every day and run six to 12 miles before going to work.

“After work, and I usually finish quite late, I run again. Then, at weekends, I’m out running in the hills up to 10 hours each day.

“I total somewhere between 100 and 130 miles each week and a lot of hills. I joke that I don’t have a life but that’s true. I sacrifice a lot, like a social life, to run but it’s what I love to do.”

Paul, who is sponsored by Team Nathan UK, reckons his training has not been as consistent as the previous year.

He said: “I am part of the digital media team for Glasgow 2014 so you can imagine how busy work has been.

“But I still felt like I might be quite strong in the West Highland Way Race.

“Last year, I ran just over 15 hours and this year my target was to be faster than 14 hours 30 minutes. I am delighted to have done even better than this.”

Paul credits the “favourable weather” and his nearest rival Robbie Britton, from Kent, Sussex, for his record time.

He said: “It was dry underfoot and not too hot, which is better than last year when it rained.

“I also knew Robbie would be strong. At times, he was ahead of me or just behind so this motivated me to push harder.

“I fell when coming over Conic Hill in the early hours of the morning but I didn’t let this hold me back.”

At the finish, Robbie was 27 minutes behind Paul. The winning female was Fionna Ross, 34, from Edinburgh.

Her second time in this event, the investment analyst arrived in Fort William in a personal best time of 18.45.04. She was the 15th runner home.

Fionna was ill for much of the race. She said: “I was sick twice. It was such a tough course and there were times when I could only walk, not run. But my support crew encouraged me on.

“You can’t know how hard this race is until you have run it.”

John says the race has become increasingly popular and overall times are getting faster every year.

Last weekend, the top 16 runners came home in less than 19 hours, while 74 people broke the 24-hour mark.

But many runners do not finish and the final entrant took almost 35 hours.

Ultra runner John said: “This race has gone from strength to strength and is now a sell-out. This year it was the depth of ability that was so striking. To have so many runners achieve sub 24 hours is incredible.

“Paul’s fantastic record-breaking time has taken us all by surprise but it is down to his dedication and focus on training.”

Race director Ian Beattie, who is also chairman of Scottish Athletics, said: “I don’t think people realise what an extraordinary achievement this is. Paul’s race time on such a tough route is world-class.

“We were driving between the check points while he was running and we were afraid he would be too fast for us. It’s a stunning performance.”